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The Best Education Advice For Would-Be Translators

There are no gatekeepers to the translation industry in the United States.

Nobody has the power to regulate, sanction, bless, or approve who can and who cannot be a translator.

That’s a great thing because the market can then decide who is worthy enough and good enough to business.

Just as there is no organization that stands in the way of aspiring translators becoming professional translators, there is no educational institute that has the final say in who can become a translator.

For that reason, a lot of translators don’t even go to college and still manage to become successful in the business.

Even more so, most translators don’t graduate from, or even attend, translation-specific programs.

Yet a lot of these people are doing well in the translation industry.

Still, though, a lot of aspiring translators are still convinced that going to college is the best way to become a translator.

“I am not sure what college major I should study if I want to become a professional live translator. I want to get a bachelor’s degree. Should I get it in communication or is there another major I could consider?”

College sometimes isn’t the best way to prepare for a career in translation, but if you don’t believe me and still want to go to college, let me give you some advice.

Tip #1: Stay Away From Strict Language Degrees

I know, not the advice you were expecting.

But it’s true.

A language degree is not going to help you become a translator any more than a degree in Linguistics will help you become a professional writer.

Yes, you need top-notch language skills to do either one, but you need something else even more.

Experience.

And a degree in Spanish or Russian or German isn’t going to give you that experience by itself.

Instead of spending four years in college learning a language, spend two and live in a country that speaks the language you want to learn.

The most common areas of specialization reported were business/finance (57%), law (55%), medicine (47%), and industry and technology (38%). Uncommon areas of specialization included entertainment (18%), natural sciences (16%), and pure sciences (8%).

The money is in business and finance, law, medicine, or industry and technology.

If that’s the case, you need to become an expert on one or more of those areas.

And for a translator, there’s two ways to become an expert:

Get some real hands-on training, or

Start by learning about the topic in school

A degree in one of these areas will not only prepare you to be ahead of everyone else in the translation game who decided to major in 9th Century Russian Literature, you’ll also have a degree in a relevant field that can get you a full-time job somewhere if the translation thing doesn’t work out.